Setting up files that are downloadable from your website is a very simple process. However, there are a couple of issues you will need to consider before choosing to do so.
Security
File size
Since security is obviously the most important of these two issues, we will be discussing it first.
Before we get into how to secure the files on your server, I would like to say, if it is a file you intend on selling, you should seriously consider using one of the many paid file delivery services out there. The main reason for using a service like this is they can ensure the security of your file via encryption methods you can
Minggu, 18 November 2007
The New Art Magazine: Artists And Their Websites
With the number of slick art magazines on the stands today, it's easy for your work to get washed away in the homogeneous art school world. It's not easy to be truly original and yet still make your mark. With your own website to showcase your art, you don't have to deal with the trendy cliques that make up both the 'legitimate' art world as well as the 'underground' art world.
Here are just a few things you can do with your art website through a reputable web host:
- Show samples of your work. Or show everything you've ever done, starting with preschool finger painting. A few digital photographs of your work, whether you specialize in beadwork, painting, weaving, sculpture, or origami, is all you need to create an online portfolio.
- Showcase different styles. An issue that many artists come across is the need for the world to pinhole you into one particular style or discipline. With your website, you can designate a different page of your website to the different artistic techniques that you enjoy.
- List hours and services and prices. Are your services for sale? Do you have paintings or prints, mini versions of your most popular sculptures, or blankets that you have made? If you have something to offer, let people know. There's no reason that you should be slaving away at some 9-5 job when you could be paying the rent through your art. However, if your 9-5 position is important to you, be sure to list on your site that you're only available to paint portraits at night and on the weekends.
- Special deals or discounts. Though you will list your prices on the services page, you may offer a discount or a special deal to those who make multiple purchases across your various disciplines, come back often, or refer other customers to your work. If so, this is the place to outline the details.
- Offer a subscription service. If your art is small and something you turn out by the hundreds every month whether or not someone is waiting on the other end, waiting to take them off your hands, then a subscription service may be an idea for you to consider. For example, a 'Scarf of the Month' club for knitters or 'Flash Art of the Month' for those who draw tattoos or other graphics. Giving people a reason to come back will not only increase your exposure but help you to create a budget that you can depend on.
- Commission order forms. Whether someone wants to specify the yarn, weight, density, size, color, and pattern for a tapestry or if they have some vague idea that perhaps they'd like to get a painting for their brother, it's easy to design an order form for your art website that will help you understand what exactly it is that they want from you.
- Contact info. Include everything from your cell phone to your email address. They already have your website address, but list it here anyway, in case they copy and paste their information.
- Art newsletter. Whether you focus just on what's new with you and what new services you have to offer including where you'll be showing next and new discounts you have to offer or instead write a newsletter on the history, news events, and interesting facts about the type of art you're interested in, an art newsletter is a great way to remind people who you are and how to find you.
- Part of the community. Offering a link page to fellow artists, framers, and art supply stores may not only earn you a few link-backs on their pages but will make you a source of information in the art community worth book marking.
Above all, be creative when designing your art website through your web host. You will sell yourself and your style through example rather than words alone.
Here are just a few things you can do with your art website through a reputable web host:
- Show samples of your work. Or show everything you've ever done, starting with preschool finger painting. A few digital photographs of your work, whether you specialize in beadwork, painting, weaving, sculpture, or origami, is all you need to create an online portfolio.
- Showcase different styles. An issue that many artists come across is the need for the world to pinhole you into one particular style or discipline. With your website, you can designate a different page of your website to the different artistic techniques that you enjoy.
- List hours and services and prices. Are your services for sale? Do you have paintings or prints, mini versions of your most popular sculptures, or blankets that you have made? If you have something to offer, let people know. There's no reason that you should be slaving away at some 9-5 job when you could be paying the rent through your art. However, if your 9-5 position is important to you, be sure to list on your site that you're only available to paint portraits at night and on the weekends.
- Special deals or discounts. Though you will list your prices on the services page, you may offer a discount or a special deal to those who make multiple purchases across your various disciplines, come back often, or refer other customers to your work. If so, this is the place to outline the details.
- Offer a subscription service. If your art is small and something you turn out by the hundreds every month whether or not someone is waiting on the other end, waiting to take them off your hands, then a subscription service may be an idea for you to consider. For example, a 'Scarf of the Month' club for knitters or 'Flash Art of the Month' for those who draw tattoos or other graphics. Giving people a reason to come back will not only increase your exposure but help you to create a budget that you can depend on.
- Commission order forms. Whether someone wants to specify the yarn, weight, density, size, color, and pattern for a tapestry or if they have some vague idea that perhaps they'd like to get a painting for their brother, it's easy to design an order form for your art website that will help you understand what exactly it is that they want from you.
- Contact info. Include everything from your cell phone to your email address. They already have your website address, but list it here anyway, in case they copy and paste their information.
- Art newsletter. Whether you focus just on what's new with you and what new services you have to offer including where you'll be showing next and new discounts you have to offer or instead write a newsletter on the history, news events, and interesting facts about the type of art you're interested in, an art newsletter is a great way to remind people who you are and how to find you.
- Part of the community. Offering a link page to fellow artists, framers, and art supply stores may not only earn you a few link-backs on their pages but will make you a source of information in the art community worth book marking.
Above all, be creative when designing your art website through your web host. You will sell yourself and your style through example rather than words alone.
Sabtu, 17 November 2007
The Myth Of 101 Ways To Market Your Website
"101 Ways To Market Your Website" is the title of a book found at a cheap publisher's outlet in town for about three quid and purchased out of interest.
So, we sat down with a cup of coffee and worked our way through the index, see what these people thought was useful, and if there was something new there.
Extraordinarily enough, in my past 10 years on the net, I've done EVERY SINGLE ONE of those!
EVERY single one. And some of them, I could have added another 12 chapters on top of what was in the book.
Question. If I actually really do know how to do that web thing so very thoroughly (and it appears that I actually really and practically do!), then why don't I have 9 billion visitors per second?
The answer is simple.
EVERY ONE of these 101 ways TAKES IMMENSE INVESTMENT IN TIME - IF you're going to do it right and get it to a point where it actually works well enough to really start generating that mysteriously elusive web traffic for your site.
Let's just take a single one for example, the autoresponder, in all its glory.
Even if we leave out the time spent learning the software, soliciting ads, writing the content, if you really, REALLY did that thoroughly, with a number of multiple chained autoresponders with thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers on each one, the sign up pages, advertising the sign up pages, keeping the whole thing up to date and dealing with the correspondence this generates, the trouble shooting, unsubscriptions, and everything else, you would end up doing NOTHING ELSE ALL DAY - and have a full working week.
And that is just ONE item on a "101" item list.
The same holds true for EVERYTHING.
To really build, use, police, update, enlarge and maintain a top class directory, a 40 hour working week by ONE SINGLE PERSON with their computer is taken up, just with that and ONLY that.
To run, police, advertise and expand a popular forum is yet the same again.
To produce an exciting, content rich, constantly up to date blog that brings in followers and sales, yup, it's a full time task.
To produce, maintain, advertise and run a really good ezine does exactly the same again.
So does "article marketing" with its multiple submissions, updates, multiple directory listings, authors bios, and so forth.
And so does "newsgroup marketing" once again.
Want to try your hand at running a good affiliate programme?
How about keyword optimising each and every page of your website with content alignment, meta tags, robot instructions, and maintaining this with feedback on your listings in various search engines to keep in the top ten as the fashions change radically overnight?
Perhaps a multiple placement dedicated banner advertising campaign with feedback statistic adjustments?
Really get into Google adwords and maintain, track, fine tune and keep it perfectly up to date in response to your competitors and customers?
Same story, all over ...
And so it goes on.
Here's the deal.
All these things, I only did in order to support the business I'm actually SUPPOSED TO BE IN!
My 40 hour working week (well don't make me laugh! but anyway, just for argument's sake and to have a figure there) SHOULD theoretically be taken up by research and writing, as I'm a writer.
So what we have here is 101 ways to spend a full 40 hour week, plus your own job's 40 hour week.
Shame we don't live on Pluto, isn't it. They have weeks that last centuries ...
So what is ONE SINGLE PERSON trying to do web marketing supposed to do?
Well, and after ten years of beating myself up for not doing all those things "properly", I think the following is of the essence.
No.1 is to understand that unless you have dedicated staff, there is no way on Earth you can do all of that yourself.
There simply isn't enough time, even if we leave the steep learning curves and time spent trying to understand software and such quite out of it.
So what one has to do is to pick and choose from these 101 strategies the ones that are:
a) the easiest and fastest;
b) the ones that last the longest on autopilot;
c) the most natural to what you're supposed to be doing in the first place (yeah that's the original job/product/mission, remember that even still?)
If you like databases but abhor article writing, concentrate on building a good directory and forget about article submissions, for example.
We need to prune, prioritise and perfect only a very few of these 101 options, and stick to those.
That's the only way to survive this.
It is to understand that you PHYSICALLY CANNOT do all that; that if you try, you can't help but fail at everything (as then, NOTHING gets the attention it needs to actually bring results eventually!); and that you have to PICK AND CHOOSE which battles you're going to fight.
Lastly, all that 101 traffic stuff has to be subjugated to the real reason we're here, whatever that is, and must NEVER be allowed to get to a point where it is taking up more than 50% of your time.
So.
Go look at a list of these internet marketing devices.
Pick just those you are naturally attracted to, and just FORGET about all the rest.
Try and make those as good as you can, and build up your business to a point like that until you can hire staff and manpower to expand into some of the other traffic generating devices.
And in the meantime, take a deep breath, relax, and know that NO-ONE, not even someone with 8 tentacles instead of arms and who never sleeps, can actually do that myth and successfully implement "101 Ways To Advertise Your Website".
Wisdom is a fine thing ...
SFX :-)
Silvia Hartmann
http://SilviaHartmann.com
So, we sat down with a cup of coffee and worked our way through the index, see what these people thought was useful, and if there was something new there.
Extraordinarily enough, in my past 10 years on the net, I've done EVERY SINGLE ONE of those!
EVERY single one. And some of them, I could have added another 12 chapters on top of what was in the book.
Question. If I actually really do know how to do that web thing so very thoroughly (and it appears that I actually really and practically do!), then why don't I have 9 billion visitors per second?
The answer is simple.
EVERY ONE of these 101 ways TAKES IMMENSE INVESTMENT IN TIME - IF you're going to do it right and get it to a point where it actually works well enough to really start generating that mysteriously elusive web traffic for your site.
Let's just take a single one for example, the autoresponder, in all its glory.
Even if we leave out the time spent learning the software, soliciting ads, writing the content, if you really, REALLY did that thoroughly, with a number of multiple chained autoresponders with thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers on each one, the sign up pages, advertising the sign up pages, keeping the whole thing up to date and dealing with the correspondence this generates, the trouble shooting, unsubscriptions, and everything else, you would end up doing NOTHING ELSE ALL DAY - and have a full working week.
And that is just ONE item on a "101" item list.
The same holds true for EVERYTHING.
To really build, use, police, update, enlarge and maintain a top class directory, a 40 hour working week by ONE SINGLE PERSON with their computer is taken up, just with that and ONLY that.
To run, police, advertise and expand a popular forum is yet the same again.
To produce an exciting, content rich, constantly up to date blog that brings in followers and sales, yup, it's a full time task.
To produce, maintain, advertise and run a really good ezine does exactly the same again.
So does "article marketing" with its multiple submissions, updates, multiple directory listings, authors bios, and so forth.
And so does "newsgroup marketing" once again.
Want to try your hand at running a good affiliate programme?
How about keyword optimising each and every page of your website with content alignment, meta tags, robot instructions, and maintaining this with feedback on your listings in various search engines to keep in the top ten as the fashions change radically overnight?
Perhaps a multiple placement dedicated banner advertising campaign with feedback statistic adjustments?
Really get into Google adwords and maintain, track, fine tune and keep it perfectly up to date in response to your competitors and customers?
Same story, all over ...
And so it goes on.
Here's the deal.
All these things, I only did in order to support the business I'm actually SUPPOSED TO BE IN!
My 40 hour working week (well don't make me laugh! but anyway, just for argument's sake and to have a figure there) SHOULD theoretically be taken up by research and writing, as I'm a writer.
So what we have here is 101 ways to spend a full 40 hour week, plus your own job's 40 hour week.
Shame we don't live on Pluto, isn't it. They have weeks that last centuries ...
So what is ONE SINGLE PERSON trying to do web marketing supposed to do?
Well, and after ten years of beating myself up for not doing all those things "properly", I think the following is of the essence.
No.1 is to understand that unless you have dedicated staff, there is no way on Earth you can do all of that yourself.
There simply isn't enough time, even if we leave the steep learning curves and time spent trying to understand software and such quite out of it.
So what one has to do is to pick and choose from these 101 strategies the ones that are:
a) the easiest and fastest;
b) the ones that last the longest on autopilot;
c) the most natural to what you're supposed to be doing in the first place (yeah that's the original job/product/mission, remember that even still?)
If you like databases but abhor article writing, concentrate on building a good directory and forget about article submissions, for example.
We need to prune, prioritise and perfect only a very few of these 101 options, and stick to those.
That's the only way to survive this.
It is to understand that you PHYSICALLY CANNOT do all that; that if you try, you can't help but fail at everything (as then, NOTHING gets the attention it needs to actually bring results eventually!); and that you have to PICK AND CHOOSE which battles you're going to fight.
Lastly, all that 101 traffic stuff has to be subjugated to the real reason we're here, whatever that is, and must NEVER be allowed to get to a point where it is taking up more than 50% of your time.
So.
Go look at a list of these internet marketing devices.
Pick just those you are naturally attracted to, and just FORGET about all the rest.
Try and make those as good as you can, and build up your business to a point like that until you can hire staff and manpower to expand into some of the other traffic generating devices.
And in the meantime, take a deep breath, relax, and know that NO-ONE, not even someone with 8 tentacles instead of arms and who never sleeps, can actually do that myth and successfully implement "101 Ways To Advertise Your Website".
Wisdom is a fine thing ...
SFX :-)
Silvia Hartmann
http://SilviaHartmann.com
Things to consider before redesigning or redeveloping a website
Its 2006 and you have made a few resolutions. You need your website to perform so that you reap the rewards. This article will be more useful to companies who have a web based business or a portal.
Does this sound familiar:
1. We have a website and have spent a lot of money but it
Does this sound familiar:
1. We have a website and have spent a lot of money but it
Jumat, 16 November 2007
The Benefits of Reliable Equine Websites
When you are a horse passionate, horses become more than just a hobby for you! Horse enthusiasts dedicate a lot of time and money to their passion, constantly looking for new ways of exchanging information and tips with other horse lovers, striving to take their passion to another level. If you are a horse enthusiast and you want to quickly extend your knowledge on horses, with a minimal investment of time, effort and money, the Internet is the best place to turn to for help. There are various equine websites on the World Wide Web that offer you the opportunity to interact with other people interested in horses, allowing you to quickly access the information you need in a fun and interesting environment.
Reliable equine websites offer members the chance to chat with other horse owners and lovers in a wide range of horse forums. Horse forums are the best means to quickly receive advice regarding horse breeding, training, care, health, nutrition and other related features. Structured on various topics, horse forums offer members the opportunity to exchange opinions, ideas and thoughts with other horse enthusiasts, and to get in touch with professionals who provide prompt feedback regarding any horse issues. Regardless of your level of experience with horses, you can always learn new things by participating to various discussions in horse forums. If you are a novice, you will be able to quickly assimilate valuable information and tips, thus expanding your overall knowledge on horses. By contrast, if you are an experienced horse breeder you have the opportunity to share your knowledge with other people.
In addition to topic-oriented horse forums, good equine sites also allow members to access a wide range of horse classified ads. Horse classifieds are well-structured in different categories, so can effortlessly find the ads you are interested in. Whether you are interested in selling or adopting a horse, buying or selling horse accessories and equipment, horse classifieds are appropriate for you! To buy a horse, all you have to do is browse through the abundance of horse classifieds and choose the horse you like best! To sell a horse, you only need to post an ad, include a photo and specify your contacts. Once you have posted the horse classified ad, you will soon be contacted by potential buyers. Reliable horse classified ads websites satisfy the needs of both buyers and sellers, ensuring that the performed transactions are conducted quickly and safely.
Whether you want to buy or sell a horse, a professional horse classified ads website can help you in the process. Apart from horse classifieds, most specific websites also account for features such as horse forums, blogs, advertisements and many more! The best part is that most equine websites offer free membership, so you can enjoy all these facilities without ever having to pay! Choose the services of a dedicated, solid equine website and you won
Reliable equine websites offer members the chance to chat with other horse owners and lovers in a wide range of horse forums. Horse forums are the best means to quickly receive advice regarding horse breeding, training, care, health, nutrition and other related features. Structured on various topics, horse forums offer members the opportunity to exchange opinions, ideas and thoughts with other horse enthusiasts, and to get in touch with professionals who provide prompt feedback regarding any horse issues. Regardless of your level of experience with horses, you can always learn new things by participating to various discussions in horse forums. If you are a novice, you will be able to quickly assimilate valuable information and tips, thus expanding your overall knowledge on horses. By contrast, if you are an experienced horse breeder you have the opportunity to share your knowledge with other people.
In addition to topic-oriented horse forums, good equine sites also allow members to access a wide range of horse classified ads. Horse classifieds are well-structured in different categories, so can effortlessly find the ads you are interested in. Whether you are interested in selling or adopting a horse, buying or selling horse accessories and equipment, horse classifieds are appropriate for you! To buy a horse, all you have to do is browse through the abundance of horse classifieds and choose the horse you like best! To sell a horse, you only need to post an ad, include a photo and specify your contacts. Once you have posted the horse classified ad, you will soon be contacted by potential buyers. Reliable horse classified ads websites satisfy the needs of both buyers and sellers, ensuring that the performed transactions are conducted quickly and safely.
Whether you want to buy or sell a horse, a professional horse classified ads website can help you in the process. Apart from horse classifieds, most specific websites also account for features such as horse forums, blogs, advertisements and many more! The best part is that most equine websites offer free membership, so you can enjoy all these facilities without ever having to pay! Choose the services of a dedicated, solid equine website and you won
The Web 2.0 Effect: The Characteristics of a web2.0 website
The term web2.0 was originally presented by O'Reilly Media (A well known media company publishing books and websites on various computer technology topics). It's a term that refers to a new generation of websites (social networking websites, wiki-based websites etc). These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.
The web2.0 is a revolutionary phenomenon. Let's talk about the most basic characteristics of the websites using the web2.0 concept:
- A web2.0 website should be completely interactive and dynamic with a friendly user-interface based on the latest web2.0 technologies like AJAX.
- Web2.0 websites should deliver web based applications to Internet users and allowing them to make use of these applications through a web browser.
- A web2.0 website should implement social networking capabilities allowing users to interact with each other and create friend lists.
- A web2.0 website should be a democratic website where users will be able to add value by interacting with the web based application.
- A Web2.0 websites should allow it's users to exercise various controls over the website data and content (adding/deleting/editing content).
The conclusion is that web2.0 websites are build on participatory web based applications focusing basically on user experience and collaboration.
Examples of successful web2.0 websites
Although this new Internet revolution or trend is not widespread among web developers or Internet marketers yet, millions of users are actually participating in such websites. Not a lot of them are aware of the web2.0 concept but they are already an active part of it.
Here are some super-successful websites utilizing the web2.0 technologies:
- YouTube.com : The concept of YouTube is very simple. It allows Internet users to share their favorite video files with the entire world. YouTube gained so much popularity in such a little time. Everyone was surprised when the giant search engine Google bought the YouTube company for over 2 billions dollars!
- Wikipedia: The most famous online encyclopedia. It's free, it's huge, it's quite a resource for everyone and it's updated every single minute since anyone can edit it's contents. Which is why it became such a popular web place.
- Social Bookmarking websites like Digg.com : These type of websites like Digg.com offer users the ability to create friend lists and share their favorite websites, opinions, stories etc with people all over the globe. The popularity of these social bookmarking websites is increasing every day, making the website owners rich!
- MySpace.com: I bet you've heard of MySpace.com. This website will allow you to create your own profile, friend list and personal homepage adding whatever you want on it (text, images, videos, links, etc). It will also allow to share your profile and web page with other MySpace users. Amazingly simple but so clever. MySpace.com is now one of the most visited websited in the entire Internet.
What do all these websites have in common?
The web2.0 concept. These websites are active web based applications. They all allow internet users to actively participate and customize the way the website looks and feels, thus giving the pleasure and impression of collaborating to the online community. The web2.0 is so evolutionary because of it's simplicity and it will become even more widespread among website designers and internet marketers.
The web2.0 is a revolutionary phenomenon. Let's talk about the most basic characteristics of the websites using the web2.0 concept:
- A web2.0 website should be completely interactive and dynamic with a friendly user-interface based on the latest web2.0 technologies like AJAX.
- Web2.0 websites should deliver web based applications to Internet users and allowing them to make use of these applications through a web browser.
- A web2.0 website should implement social networking capabilities allowing users to interact with each other and create friend lists.
- A web2.0 website should be a democratic website where users will be able to add value by interacting with the web based application.
- A Web2.0 websites should allow it's users to exercise various controls over the website data and content (adding/deleting/editing content).
The conclusion is that web2.0 websites are build on participatory web based applications focusing basically on user experience and collaboration.
Examples of successful web2.0 websites
Although this new Internet revolution or trend is not widespread among web developers or Internet marketers yet, millions of users are actually participating in such websites. Not a lot of them are aware of the web2.0 concept but they are already an active part of it.
Here are some super-successful websites utilizing the web2.0 technologies:
- YouTube.com : The concept of YouTube is very simple. It allows Internet users to share their favorite video files with the entire world. YouTube gained so much popularity in such a little time. Everyone was surprised when the giant search engine Google bought the YouTube company for over 2 billions dollars!
- Wikipedia: The most famous online encyclopedia. It's free, it's huge, it's quite a resource for everyone and it's updated every single minute since anyone can edit it's contents. Which is why it became such a popular web place.
- Social Bookmarking websites like Digg.com : These type of websites like Digg.com offer users the ability to create friend lists and share their favorite websites, opinions, stories etc with people all over the globe. The popularity of these social bookmarking websites is increasing every day, making the website owners rich!
- MySpace.com: I bet you've heard of MySpace.com. This website will allow you to create your own profile, friend list and personal homepage adding whatever you want on it (text, images, videos, links, etc). It will also allow to share your profile and web page with other MySpace users. Amazingly simple but so clever. MySpace.com is now one of the most visited websited in the entire Internet.
What do all these websites have in common?
The web2.0 concept. These websites are active web based applications. They all allow internet users to actively participate and customize the way the website looks and feels, thus giving the pleasure and impression of collaborating to the online community. The web2.0 is so evolutionary because of it's simplicity and it will become even more widespread among website designers and internet marketers.
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